Women and fighting.  Not really a traditional "girl's choice" for sport.  

Dominique Firriolo is an Australian female Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter.  She's ranked number 1 in Australia in her division, and is forging ahead in a male-dominated sport.  I can't resist promoting Dominique (of Italian heritage), to help her to reach her dreams.  Yes, my choice is extreme, but then when have I ever been one to choose a nice, safe path?  C'mon RMAs.  Let's help Dominique! #IWD2016

The theme of IWD 2016 is #PledgeforParity

"Everyone - men and women - can pledge to take a concrete step to help achieve gender parity more quickly - whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, develop more inclusive and flexible cultures or root out workplace bias. Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to take pragmatic action to accelerate gender parity."

InternationalWomensDay.com 

There has been another important decision from the Full Court of the Federal Court which both clarifies the scope of the Minister’s personal power to cancel a visa on character grounds, and gives further explanation of the concept of “legal unreasonableness”. 

This decision came in the case of Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Eden (2016) FCAFC, handed down on 9 March. 

Just like the Full Court’s recent decision in Minister for Immigration and Border Protection v Stretton (2016) FCAFC 11, the decision in the Eden case illustrates that visa holders who are seeking to challenge a personal decision by the Minister to cancel a visa on the basis that the cancellation was somehow “disproportionate” in the circumstances are going to face a very (very!) difficult and uphill battle in the courts. 

Self-managed super funds (SMSF) are currently the fastest growing sector in the Australian Superannuation Industry. With so many Australians making the move, you may wonder what the benefits are, and if it’s a suitable option for you. Superannuation Property recommends weighing up the benefits and risks before establishing an SMSF.

SMSF benefits

The clear benefit of an SMSF is that you are 100% in control of your investment strategy and you may directly monitor and control where and how your super is invested. You have complete choice over asset selection, and this is where many of our clients get excited about investing into property, if it’s suitable for their situation.

Recently, we have been requested by migration agents many times on which occupations and industries experience higher success rate nomination approvals. It is no surprise that many of you have similar concerns – the Immigration Department is dishing out refusals without batting an eyelid!

Despite this ugly phenomenon that the migration industry is currently facing, we decided to look into solutions. Based on our observation, the Building and Construction industry has seen higher nomination approval rates than most other industries.

You can probably figure out that there is a viable opportunity for nominees for positions in building and construction trades due to the demand of manpower and skills to meet the market’s needs.

Official statistics released by the department of immigration show that 4450 sc457 visa applications were refused in the last quarter of 2015 compared to 2130 refusals for the same period in the previous year.

These figures could get worse given that RMAs have been reporting that the department of immigration has taken a stricter stance in its assessment regime. In some cases, the DIBP has given applicants little or no chance to provide additional evidence of their claims after lodgement of the application.

Migration Alliance enquired with the DIBP upon seeing a report that an applicant who lodged their visa late on Friday was refused the Sponsorship application on midday Monday as the required evidence was not uploaded with the application.